Most librarians would agree that there should be a definable “core” of essential books. But how many would agree on what the core is? This forum will explore the tension between the idea of a core and the actual practice of defining one.

All week

The Task Force on the Environment of the Social Responsibilities Round Table (TFOE-SRRT) wants conference goers to bring their favorite traveling mugs and water bottles in support of efforts encouraging the American Library Association (ALA) to reduce its carbon footprint. TFOE will launch this event at the upcoming ALA 2008 Midwinter Meeting in Philadelphia from January 11-14, 2008. The title of this campaign is "Cup by Cup for a Greener ALA."

The campaign will show that ALA members are ready to make lifestyle changes for sustainable conferences and to protect the health of the Earth.

The math is simple. A typical ALA Midwinter draws over 10,000 librarians to its 2000+ business meetings, discussion groups, programs, and events. If every librarian attending Midwinter brought their own coffee cup more than 10,000 paper or Styrofoam cups would not enter already over-flowing landfills.

A BIT OF HISTORY ... when you want to take a break from the Convention Center, come on down to N. 4th St between Race & Vine and visit the museum and library of Historic St. George's, the first Methodist Church in America ... we've got handwritten journals by early Americans, and a hymnal in John Wesley's hand. We'd love to give you a guided tour. [1] 215-925-7788

Friday, January 11

This workshop addresses critical topics in reading for library media specialists who teach PreK-6th grade students. During this full-day session, presenters will be given a brief overview of current research on reading instruction, discuss how it informs school library programs, explore reading strategies, and explain what the library media specialist can do to strengthen their role as a literacy leader in their school. Using print and electronic resources, the facilitator will work with attendees to cultivate the confidence to adopt and understand the tools which strengthen student reading strategies.

Advocacy Institute8:30 a.m.–3:30 p.m., salon gMarriott Philadelphia
Open to all library advocates, the institute
will focus on message development
and coalition building and
will feature afternoon breakout sessions
on making budget presentations,
crisis communications, and
passing bond issues and referenda.
Onsite registration is $75. For more
information, visit www.ala.org/
advocacyinstitute/.

Coordinated by the Office for
Library Advocacy and the Advocacy
Institute Task Force of the ALA Public
Awareness Committee, in cooper-ation with the Public Information
Office, the Association for Library
Trustees and Advocates, the Chapter
Relations Office, the Committee on
Legislation, and Friends of Libraries
USA.

YALSA’s Gaming Extravaganza8–10 p.m., millennium hallLoews Philadelphia
Experienced gamers, beginners, and
everyone in between will find something
new in the world of online,
video, and tabletop games, while enjoying
refreshments,

Tickets are $40. Winners of YALSA’s
“Create Your Own Avatar Contest”
(AL, Dec., p. 14) will be
announced. For more information,
visit www.ala.org/ala/yalsa/.

Saturday, January 12

Washington Office Update Session8–10:a.m., room 108 APCC
Bassem Youssef, the highest ranking
Arab-American agent employed by
the FBI, will speak about his experience
with the bureau’s counter-terrorism
surveillance activities,
including National Security Letters.

The Washington Office will host three breakout sessions following the main update session:

1. ALA OITP Director Alan Inouye will lead a discussion on "All (Telecom) Politics is Local: What the FCC is up to and what it has to do with your library," including discussion of the February 17, 2009, Digital Television Transition, in which libraries are set to play a big role. Location: PCC 108A.

2. The ALA Government Documents Round Table will features representatives of the Library of Congress, the Federal Depository Library Program, and Indiana University, who will discuss a wide range of topics from digitization to an intergovernmental search engine. Location: PCC 107B.

3. The third breakout discussion will be an exploration of how crucial libraries are to E-government. Location: PCC 105B.

Nuts and Bolts workshop10:30 a.m.–noon, Washington RoomFour Seasons Philadelphia
Library Friends, volunteers, and staff
are invited to share best practices and
hear from experts on membership
and board development, fundraising,
advocacy, and strategic planning.
Roundtable discussions will be moderated
by Friend of Libraries USA
board members. Conference registration
is not required to participate in
this program. Sponsored by FOLUSA.

Tag You're It: A revolution in Patron-Library Interaction10:30 a.m. - noon, Room 201 B/CPCC
Joint MARS Hot Topics and Products & Services
Discussion Forum on using Web 2.0 social
tagging technologies to increase patron
interaction with the library and its resources.
Three speakers will lead the discussion.
Jennifer Sweda, Cataloging Librarian for
University of Pennsylvania Libraries will speak
about the well-know PennTags project, which allows
readers to tag catalogued items and works as a
social bookmarking tool for locating, organizing,
and sharing favorite resources. Lauren Stokes,
Virtual Library Manager at the Las Vegas-Clark
County Library District will speak about how her
library system is enabling the community to add
reviews to resources in their catalog. Kate Sheehan,
Coordinator of Library Automation at Danbury Public
Library, will discuss how they have implemented
LibraryThing.

White Privilege1:30–3:30 pm, Lescaze RoomLoews Philadelphia
The Diversity Discussion Group will
uncover how white privilege has
evolved, how it is perpetuated today,
and what librarians can do in their
roles to unhinge its power. Sponsored
by the Office for Diversity.

Spotlight on Adult Literature2–4 p.m., Exhibit HallPCC
Participating publishers will feature
book signings and some will give
away free books or galleys. Register
at the FOLUSA booth (#611) for
prizes.

Conference registration or an exhibits
only pass is required to participate
in this program.

“Working with the FaceBook Generation: Engaging Student Views on Access to Scholarship”4–6 p.m., Room 204 A/BPCC
The forum will feature Andre Brown,
doctoral student at the University of
Pennsylvania, and coblogger for Biocurious;
Kimberly Douglas, university
librarian, California Institute of
Technology; Nelson Pavlosky, law
student, George Mason University and cofounder of Students for
Freeculture; and Stephanie Wang,
graduate student at Princeton University
and former National Coordinating
Committee member,
Universities Allied for Essential
Medicines.

The first Sparky Award winners
for the best short videos on the value
of information sharing will be
showcased.

The ACRL Scholarly Communication
Discussion Group will continue
the forum discussion January 14 from
4 to 6 p.m., Franklin 11 Room, Marriott
Philadelphia.

Sponsored by the Scholarly Publishing
and Academic Resources
Coalition and the Association of
College and Research Libraries.

Sunday, January 13

Diversity Research Tea/Poster Session4–6 p.m., Adams RoomFour Seasons Philadelphia
The Diversity Research Grant program,
sponsored by the Office for Diversity,
addresses critical gaps in the
knowledge of diversity issues within library and information science. Topics
for 2008 grant applications will be
announced and attendees will have
the chance to review poster sessions
by past recipients.

Monday, January 14

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday Sunrise Observance6:30–7:30 a.m., Room 113PCC
Speaker Ganga Dakshinamurti will
share her perspective on the connections
between Dr.
King and Mahatma Gandhi
in a presentation titled
“A Challenging
Inspiration Lighting Our
Way: From Gandhi to
King Jr. to Us.”

Dakshinamurti, librarian
at the Albert Cohen
Management Library,
Asper School of Business
at the University of Manitoba, is past
president of ALA’s Asian/Pacific
American Librarians Association.

Hear selected quotes from Dr.
King’s writings and speeches, as well
as music from a local choir, and enjoy
light refreshments.

Sponsored by Black Caucus of the
American Library Association, the
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday
Task Force, and ALA’s Social Responsibilities

"What's the Core? : A Look at Core Book Lists"8 - 10 am, Pennsylvania Convention Center Room 204CSponsored by the ALCTS Publisher-Vendor-Library Relations Interest Group
Most librarians would agree that there should be a definable “core” of essential books. But how many would agree on what the core is? This forum will explore the tension between the idea of a core and the actual practice of defining one.

“New Roles for Acquisitions: Selecting and Harvesting for Institutional Repositories”1:30– 3 p.m., Room 204CPCC
The forum will address the latest
transformational change that has
taken place in research libraries—
the development of institutional
repositories.

Karl Debus-López of the National
Agricultural Library and Trisha Davis
of Ohio State University will give presentations
on how they have restructured
their acquisitions operations to
manage the selection and harvesting
of content for their institutions’ digital
repositories. Sponsored by the ALCTS
Acquisitions Section Forum.
Round Table.

Attendees will enjoy a selection of
desserts and finger sandwiches,
along with coffee and tea. A book
signing will follow the author presentations.
Some books will be given
away free and others will be
available for purchase at a generous
discount.

Tickets are $35 in advance ($30
for FOLUSA members) or $45 onsite.
Advance tickets are available
online at www.folusa.org or by calling
800-936-5872 through January
8. Tickets will be available, while
supplies last, at booth 611 in the Exhibit
Hall during all exhibit hours
and just prior to the event at the
door.

“Anthony Lewis on the First Amendment”6:30 p.m., Grand hall OverlookNational Constitution Center,525 Arch St., Independence Mall
Two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Anthony
Lewis will be discussing his
new book, Freedom for the Thought
That We Hate, with Chris Finan,
president of the American Booksellers
Foundation for Free Expression
and trustee for ALA’s Freedom To
Read Foundation. He will discuss
how our First Amendment rights
were created and reveal a story of
hard choices surrounding one of
American’s great founding ideas. A
book signing follows.

Tickets are $12 for Constitution
Center members, $15 for nonmembers,
and $6 for K–12 students and
teachers. Reservations are required.
For more information, visit
programs@constitutioncenter.org or
call 215-409-6700.

Sponsored by the National Constitution
Center and the Freedom to
Read Foundation.